Structural Advantage of the Mechanism of Spoken Expression as a Factor in Differences in Spoken and Written Expression

Spoken expression produces significantly more cognitive and linguistic material than written expression. This experiment tested whether the facility of the organ of use was, in part, responsible by examining different, and more facile writing techniques (writing, typing, stenotyping) on the same variables. As facility increases in the writing mode, cognitive and linguistic indices do approach those previously found in spoken expression, but still differ significantly from them. Speaking, although an overlaid function, is favored over any mode of writing by a smaller musculature (in the larynx) a lesser energy commitment, greater practice, and earlier (ontogenetic) use. More fundamentally, it appears to be a “natural” function biologically.